It was almost 2 a.m. this past Thursday, the second of two consecutive nights to which Beatcomber volunteered its ear as a judge in the Vans Warped Tour Battle of the Bands. The last band standing after the three-week, six-night competition at Alligator Alley will ascend a stage at Pompano…
When metal became a serious musical force in the early ’90s, the proud state of Florida rose to the occasion with unmatched ferocity. Bands like Brutal Mastication, Raped Ape, Cynic, Assück, and Malevolent Creation set the bar so high that national bands scrambled to record at Morrisound Studios in Tampa…
Singer, songwriter, film actor, and big band leader (or, to trade on the name of one of his more steadfast ensembles, “Large Band” leader) Lyle Lovett found his ill-fated marriage to actress Julia Roberts and a piled-high pompadour earning him more tabloid time than any amount of accolades accorded his…
Watch out, Alanis Morissette; up-and-coming Boynton Beach triple-threat singer-songwriter-guitarist Alex Bach is coming up behind you with a jagged little pill of her own. Bach’s raw lyrics, rocking guitar riffs, and powerful voice bring a feminist touch to the often male-dominated world of modern rock. Case in point: “Blame God…
There are a few common threads running between South Florida and Italy: dangling, peninsular geography yields miles of coastline, fashion ranks high on the cultural agenda, Mafia moneymen build empires, and natives are known around the world as sophisticated aesthetes with a glorious artistic heritage. OK, so three out of…
“Parts of Mississippi still suck,” says Luther Dickinson, lead singer and guitarist for the North Mississippi Allstars, “but I’ll tell you — the Hill Country is a really enlightened place. I can’t explain why, but we’ve always had wonderful experiences there. I think the music always brings people together, just…
With an instantly memorable name seemingly swiped from Lords of Acid’s playbook, wardrobe borrowed from Mad Max, and several releases of high-octane electronica, Israeli boy-girl duo Analog Pussy is right at home within psychedelic trance’s free-spirited, nocturnal playground. Psy-trance is an anomaly in dance music. Its fashion sense is inspired…
How ’bout them ’90s? How ’bout that angst, that grunge, that flannel? How ’bout Better Than Ezra, the New Orleans trio that snagged platinum in 1993 with its pop rock ditty “Good” and opened the door for chart-toppers like Third Eye Blind and Matchbox Twenty? The trio that turned grunge…
After a decade of innovation that electrified urban music, Missy Elliott and Timbaland have mostly gone their separate ways on The Cookbook. Save for a couple of tracks, Missy made this disappointing album on her own. Of course, it’s a letdown only by comparison with her five previous, groundbreaking efforts…
Unlike the Secret Machines, the Wallflowers resist the temptation to tackle a Bob Dylan song on their new disc — but they’ll likely do so sooner rather than later. Playing that card may be the only way Jakob Dylan, Zimmy’s son, will be able to attract attention in the future,…
When Stephen Marley croons “Let me out, let me out, I’m an angry lion” during “Iron Bars,” strains of Nesta sparkle in the indifferent rage. Indifference, for the Marley family, does not imply a lack of compassion. It’s their laid-back assessment of social and spiritual topics that made reggae’s first…
When the Dropkick Murphys blasted out of south Boston nearly ten years ago, few would’ve guessed that working-class punks with progressive politics and a bagpipe fetish would ever rise from underground infamy to (relatively) mainstream success. But that’s just what this band has managed to pull off with a balls-to-the-wall…
Like his Eight76 Records label mate DJ Fyah Blaze, Fort Lauderdale crooner Chrisinti (Paul Hudson) is on a rastaman vibration, but his tracks have the right jolt of pop to get your summertime cookout started. The Kingston native’s debut, 2003’s rootsy Comfort My People, contained more spiritual and political fare,…
From the citizens of Hollywood to our esteemed City Council: Thank you for outing DJs as the minions of Satan we’ve always suspected them to be. Last week, by a vote of 5-2, you passed a measure to ban DJ music after midnight at our most nefarious dens of sin…
After suffering the breakdown of their seminal hardcore band, Indecision, in early 2000, Justin Brannan and Rachel Rosen retreated to New York City and re-formed as Most Precious Blood. Following the relentless attitude of their do-it-yourself roots, MPB is a return-to-basics hardcore/metal outfit, stripped of the over-the-top metallic tendencies that…
You’ve probably heard Mike Clark’s drumming without even knowing it. Clark originally broke out in the 1970s, when he joined forces with Herbie Hancock to form the Headhunters, the top-selling jazz group of all time. Still not familiar? Well, you may have heard Clark’s samples in your favorite hip-hop and…
Despite a name that sounds like some kinda tree-hugging, spoken-word collective, Green Poet Experiment is actually one lone guy from Jupiter playing pensive, acoustic folk music. Todd Colucci does a lot of standard acoustic strumming, but check his self-produced Flags and Dreams, set for release this summer, and you’ll also…
When PitchforkMedia.com went batshit over Annie at the end of last year, lots of run-of-the-mill music fans misunderstood — or entirely missed — the hubbub. At the time, Anniemal, the gilded Norwegian popstress’ debut, was available only as an import or illegal download, so it fell on mostly obsessive ears…
Say it with me: SOOF-yahn. Last year, you could get away with mispronouncing the symphonic-folk songwriter’s first name; his previous two records, the sprawling Greetings from Michigan and the religious, banjo-filled Seven Swans, were gorgeous works that, in spite of critical praise, never received the nationwide attention they deserved. But…
Nine times out of ten, when someone complains about being “so sick and tired of the shit on the radio and MTV,” as this young Canadian singer does right at the top of her second album, it’s because he or she isn’t listening. Not so with Esthero. All over the…
Remember when hardcore ruled the streets of South Florida? When slow riffs and hyperpunk cadence crossed over to thrash stages? It was the mid-’90s, and we anteed up on New York with thugged-out panache and pop-a-cap-in-your-ass cool from bands like Bird of Ill Omen, Cavity, and Shai Hulud. Now it’s…
In early 2003, shortly after the release of his band’s major-label debut, Steve Bays imagined himself in one of two positions. Within five years, he figured either Hot Hot Heat would sound totally different and his fans would be tagging along for the ride or the band would be broken…
